Tournament-Style Discord: Giant Panda Attack

By Moe Lane

(With apologies to PVP)

At random intervals, a panda will come and savagely
attack the poor unfortunate saddled with this Discord
(3d6 Hits of the appropriate type). This is not a
real panda, actually - which means that the damage
cannot be blocked (this explicitly includes any use of
the Songs of Shields). No one without Symphonic
Awareness will ever notice the sudden appearance of or
mauling by the panda, either. The 'attack' can happen
anywhere - except in Heaven, and even then the attack
is simply delayed until the next time the angel goes
to somewhere not under the Pax Dei.

At the beginning of every session, the GM should roll
versus a target number of 8, minus the level of the
Discord: if the roll is failed, then a Giant Panda
Attack will take place at the next convenient
occasion. The attack will be heralded by some sort of
panda imagery (panda dolls, pictures of pandas,
someone mentioning pandas at the zoo): the character
must roll versus Perception to notice. If the player
then immediately shouts "NO! NOT A GIANT PANDA
ATTACK!" and cringes (this must be roleplayed out!)
then the damage rolled is cut in half, rounded down.

Observant and/or cruel GMs will note the possible
applications of this Discord in the field of operant
conditioning, especially if his or her particular game
world is suddenly full of panda imagery just waiting
to be noticed with a Perception roll. That being
said, the GM is solemnly urged to not attempt to get
the player to cringe and shout "NO! NOT A GIANT PANDA
ATTACK!" in real life, too.

Well, unless you really want to.

Reaction Modifiers: -1/level. Running around with
your head in your arms and shouting about giant
invisible attacking pandas is kind of strange.